Johann Van der Schijff (standing) and Liesl Hartman (seated on right) share a lighter moment with workshop participants during a workshop at the Frank Joubert Art Centre in 2010

The Michaelis School of Fine Art and the Frank Joubert Art Centre (FJAC) have launched a series of Saturday morning workshops for Art Educators in Cape Town. The workshops provide Michaelis lecturing staff and FET educators the opportunity to exchange knowledge, experience and skills in an informal setting.

The sessions consist of a presentation by a Michaelis lecturer, a practical exercise, tea and refreshments, and provide an opportunity for Art Educators to network with each other; the FJAC as well as staff from Michaelis in a relaxed environment. The content of the workshops is aimed at providing a practical classroom application and an enriching experience for Art Educators. 'Its our way of increasing our visibility in the FET community and saying thank you to the FET community for all their hard work. Ultimately we benefit from their excellent teaching through the students that come to study with us at Michaelis,' commented Jean Brundrit, the Michaelis staff member who is driving this project.

To date the workshops have included Curating the Object by Associate Professor Fritha Langerman and Johann Van der Schijff's Boxing Heads in 2010. Building on this success, Dr. Rael Salley has presented Experimental Drawing and Andrew Lamprecht has offered Conceptual Art on (an almost) zero budget. In addition, this year there have been two evening lectures on Art as a Career by Virginia McKenny and Professor Colin Richards has elaborated on his experience of Art Therapy.

Liesl Hartman, director of the FJAC, commented that in the future she would like to extend the project so that it can reach teachers from further a field, by hosting workshops at various art centres around the Western Cape.

So far this project has been enthusiastically received and is enjoying great success.To find out more about this initiative contact Dominique Edwards, who is the project liaison for the initiative. For more information on the Michaelis School of Fine Art's academic programmes, visit the school online.